1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a functional food composition for treating allergy, comprising Poncirus trifoliata extract, and Saururus chinensis extract, Schisandra chinensis extract or Plantago asiatica extract, as active ingredients, a tea composition comprising the same and a manufacturing method thereof.
2. Background Art
Allergic diseases have become serious problems with the advance of civilization, particularly in advanced industrial countries. In the United States, American people are currently afflicted with more than 20 kinds of allergic diseases, predominantly dermatitis, asthma and rhinitis. Further, the incidence of allergic patients in Korea is comparable to the level of advanced countries and has been increasing year by year.
Generally, manifestation of allergy in the body is accompanied by atopic dermatitis, urticaria, bronchial asthma, allergic rhinitis, allergic keratitis, and the like. Mast cells are primarily implicated in the manifestation of allergy. Histamine, a primary allergic mediator released from mast cells, promotes vascular permeability and induces infiltration of inflammatory cells into target tissues. For that reason, various chemical drugs, such as anti-histamine drugs, antibiotics, and hormone drugs, have been largely used for treatment of allergic diseases. However, administration of such therapeutic drugs suffers from adverse side effects such as maldigestion, dizziness, and stomach problems (such as heartburn, upset stomach, and stomach pain), which may occur due to toxicity of the drugs. Further, allergic diseases may become chronic due to the development of resistance to allergens upon chronic administration of the therapeutic agents.
In order to cope with such problems as mentioned above, anti-allergic drugs based on herbal ingredients have been developed. However, such herbal medicines suffer from inconvenience and discomfort associated with postprandial administration of drugs, insignificant therapeutic effects, and administration of drugs which should be made under consideration of physical constitution and symptoms of individual patients.
As a result of a variety of extensive and intensive studies and experiments to solve the problems as described above, the inventors of the present invention have developed a drug which is therapeutically effective for any type of allergic diseases, irrespective of pathogenic causes and patient's predisposition, and which is also capable of providing easy and ordinary administration in conjunction with long-term therapeutic effects. The present invention has been completed based on the development of such an anti-allergic drug.